Oklahoma is the 46th State Admitted to the Union | World History Project Oklahoma is the 46th State Admitted to the Union Oklahoma entered the Union as the forty-sixth state on November 16, 1907. Derived from the Choctaw Indian words "okla," meaning people, and "humma," meaning red, Oklahoma was designated Indian Territory in 1828. By 1880, sixty tribes, forced by European immigration and the U.S. government to relocate, had moved to Oklahoma. Congress opened part of the region, which the United States had acquired in 1803 under the terms of the Louisiana Purchase, to settlement by non-Native Americans in 1889 and organized the Oklahoma Territory in 1890. In 1907, the state of Oklahoma incorporated what remained of Indian Territory. Source: Library of Congress Added by: Aimee Lucido Delegations to make the territory into a state began near the turn of the 20th century, when the Curtis Act furthered the allotment of Indian tribal lands in Indian Territory.

Attempts to create an all-Indian state named Oklahoma, and a later attempt to create an all-Indian state named Sequoyah failed, but the Sequoyah Statehood Convention of 1905 eventually laid the groundwork for the Oklahoma Statehood Convention, which took place two years later. On November 16, 1907, Oklahoma was established as the 46th state in the Union. The new state became a focal point for the emerging oil industry, as discoveries of oil pools prompted towns to grow rapidly in population and wealth. Tulsa eventually became known as the "Oil Capital of the World" for most of the 20th century, and oil investments fueled much of the state's early economy. In 1927, Oklahoma businessman Cyrus Avery, known as the "Father of Route 66", began a campaign to create U.S. Route 66. Using an existing stretch of highway from Amarillo, Texas to Tulsa, Oklahoma to form the original portion of Highway 66, Avery spearheaded the creation of the U.S. Highway 66 Association to oversee the planning of Route 66, based in his hometown of Tulsa.

Source: Wikipedia Added by: Aimee Lucido “ A cyclone hit our farm. It took the roof off of our house, and destroyed our barn and all out buildings. We had a hundred Indian Runner ducks and after the storm we found them about half a mile from the house in a mud swamp, all dead. The family saw the cyclone coming and all got in the storm cellar. After the storm I salvaged what I could from the farm and left Oklahoma for Lincoln County, New Mexico, where they don't have cyclones. I have lived here ever since.” — Ben Stimmel Oklahoma Statehood Celebrated with Marriage Ceremony On Nov. 16, 1907, the Union admitted its 46th state when Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory combined to form the new state of Oklahoma. Residents throughout the state celebrated with wild jubilation and a “red letter” campaign. An unusual aspect of the festivities was a marriage ceremony symbolized the merging of the two territories. The day’s celebrations were highlighted in this article, printed by the Hobart Daily Republican (Hobart, Oklahoma) in its Nov.

16, 1907, issue: 1000+ images about Oklahoma (#46) 11-16-1907 on Pinterest | Indian tribes, Labor and States flags Forward Oklahoma designated the scissor-tailed flycatcher (Muscivora forficata) as official state bird in 1951. Protected by law, the scissor-tailed flycatcher is of great economic value (its diet consists almost entirely of non-useful and harmful insect species such as grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles). This songbird's unique scissor-like tail can be twice as long as its body. It catches most prey by aerial hawking, but will also grab insects off vegetation See More Oklahoma enters the Union - Nov 16, 1907 - HISTORY.com Oklahoma enters the Union A+E Networks Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory collectively enter the United States as Oklahoma, the 46th state. Oklahoma, with a name derived from the Choctaw Indian words okla, meaning “people,” and humma, meaning “red,” has a history of human occupation dating back 15,000 years.

The first Europeans to visit the region were Spanish explorers in the 16th century, and in the 18th century the Spanish and French struggled for control of the territory. The United States acquired Oklahoma from France in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. After the War of 1812, the U.S. government decided to remove Indian tribes from the settled eastern lands of the United States and move them west to the unsettled lands of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. In 1828, Congress reserved Oklahoma for Indians and in 1834 formally ceded it to five southeastern tribes as Indian Territory. Many Cherokees refused to abandon their homes east of the Mississippi, and so the U.S. Army moved them west in a forced march known as the “Trail of Tears.” The uprooted tribes joined Plains Indians that had long occupied the area, and Indian nations with fixed boundaries and separate governments were established in the region. During the American Civil War, most tribes in Indian Territory supported the South. With the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865, the territory was placed under U.S. military rule.

White cattlemen and settlers began to covet the virgin ranges of Oklahoma, and after the arrival of the railroad in the 1870s, illegal white incursion into Indian Territory flourished. Most of these “Boomers” were expelled, but pressure continued until the federal government agreed in 1889 to open two million acres in central Oklahoma for white settlement. At noon on April 22, 1889, a pistol shot signaled the opening of the new land, and tens of thousands of people rushed to stake claims. Those who had already made illegal entry to beat the starting gun were called “Sooners,” hence Oklahoma’s state nickname. The following year, the region was divided into Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. In 1907, Congress decided to admit Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory into the Union as a single state, with all Indians in the state becoming U.S. citizens. Representatives of the two territories drafted a constitution, and on September 17, 1907, it was approved by voters of the two territories. On November 16, Oklahoma was welcomed into the United States by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Oklahoma initially prospered as an agricultural state, but the drought years of the 1930s made the state part of the Dust Bowl. During the Depression, poor tenant farmers known as “Okies” were forced to travel west seeking better opportunities. In the 1940s, prosperity returned to Oklahoma, and oil production brought a major economic boom in the 1970s. Related Videos About Oklahoma | TravelOK.com - Oklahoma's Official Travel & Tourism Site The Oklahoma state motto is "Labor Omnia Vincit" - Labor conquers all things. Oklahoma's nickname is the Sooner State. The state song is "Oklahoma!" from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name. The state flag is an Osage warrior shield on a field of blue, with the shield crossed by a peace pipe and an olive branch. The Oklahoma state seal shows a pioneer and an Indian shaking hands beneath the Scales of Justice, centered in a star. The star's five rays each contain symbols of the Five Civilized Tribes. Oklahoma's state colors are green and white. The American bison is the Oklahoma state animal. The scissor-tailed flycatcher is the state bird.

White or sand bass is the state fish. The state reptile is the Mountain Boomer or collared lizard. Rose rock is the Oklahoma state rock. The redbud is the state tree. The state floral emblem is mistletoe. Oklahoma's state wildflower is the Indian blanket (Gaillardia). The fiddle is the state musical instrument. Indian grass is Oklahoma's state grass. The honeybee is the state insect. Oklahoma's current population is 3,814,820 (2012, estimated). Oklahoma is comprised of 77 counties. Oklahoma covers 69,919 square miles. Guthrie was the first state capital of Oklahoma. Oklahoma's state capitol is the only one in the world with an oil well drilled beneath it. Oklahoma is the third-largest gas-producing state in the nation. The Nellie Johnstone oil well, located at Johnstone Park in Bartlesville, was the first flowing commercial well in the world. The world's largest air materiel center is Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City. Fort Sill at Lawton is the Army's principal artillery school.

Pawhuska had the first Boy Scout troop in America (1909). Sylvan Goldman of Oklahoma created the first rolling supermarket cart. The first parking meter was created in Oklahoma and installed in Oklahoma City in 1935. Oklahoma has 43 colleges and universities. Oklahoma is the winter quarters for more circuses than any other state. Oklahoma's average annual temperature is a pleasant 60.5 degrees. Geography Oklahoma has four mountain ranges: Ouachita, Arbuckle, Wichita and Ozark. Forests cover 24 percent of Oklahoma. The Poteau River is the only river in Oklahoma that flows north. The world's largest single deposit of pure alabaster is found in the Alabaster Caverns near Freedom, Oklahoma. Oklahoma is linked to the world's waters by the McClellan-Kerr Navigation System, which flows on the Arkansas River through Arkansas to the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. The highest elevation in the state is Black Mesa, at 4,978 feet, in far northwestern Oklahoma. The lowest elevation in the state is in the southeastern corner near Idabel, at 324 feet.

Oklahoma has the distinction of having the tallest hill in the world, Mount Cavanal, at 1,999 feet. Oklahoma has more man-made lakes (200) than any other state, more than 1 million surface-acres of water and 2,000 more miles of shoreline than the Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined. The largest lake in Oklahoma is Lake Eufaula, covering 102,000 surface acres of water. Indian Information Oklahoma's name is derived from two Choctaw words - "okla," meaning people, and "humma," literally meaning "red people." The "Trail of Tears" began in the 1830s. It was the journey of the Five Civilized Tribes from the southeastern United States to Indian Territory. The relocation was forced. The Five Civilized Tribes attempted statehood in 1905 under the name Sequoyah. There are 39 tribes and nations of American Indians with headquarters in Oklahoma. Descendants of the original 67 tribes inhabiting Indian Territory still live here.

500- 1300 Spiro Indians, linked to the Aztecs, thrived and left burial mounds filled with exquisite artwork and clues to their way of life. A museum displaying their artifacts is located near Spiro. 1012 Oklahoma Facts and Trivia Information | Oklahoma Symbols Home > Social Studies > Geography > USA Activities > Oklahoma > Facts Oklahoma Facts and Trivia Many symbols of Oklahoma can be found in our Oklahoma coloring pages section. This includes state map outlines , the flag , state flower , famous landmarks , state animals and other symbols of the region. These printables make a great resource for student reports. Check out the Oklahoma Unit of Study for all coloring pages, information, interactive puzzles, word jumbles, word searches, worksheets, and thematic book reviews. We even included a state quarter observation sheet! State Name: Oklahoma State Nickname: The Sooner State State Capital: Oklahoma City Oklahoma - Cultural life | history - geography - state, United States | Britannica.com Cultural life Darrell K Royal The arts Oklahoma is a blend of the old and new.

Native American dances and other cultural performances may be seen at the annual Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival (Oklahoma City) or at the American Indian Exposition ( Anadarko ). Anadarko is also the site of Indian City USA (an outdoor museum with authentic reconstructions of Native American dwellings and extensive displays of artifacts), the National Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians, and the Southern Plains Indian Museum . Western historical collections are maintained by the University of Oklahoma and by the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. Two museums in the state celebrate a historic highway running from Chicago through Oklahoma to California: the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum, in Clinton , and the National Route 66 Museum, in Elk City . The National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center, at Oklahoma City, is noted for its Western art and its exhibits of cowboy paraphernalia. The Will Rogers Memorial Museum, in Claremore , features exhibits depicting early Oklahoma and Rogers’s career as a cowboy, humorist, and actor. Will Rogers Memorial, Claremore, Okla. Bob Taylor Oklahoma’s best-known visual artists are Native American, and their works as well as those of European masters are represented in many museums.

Oil has made the state influential on the international petroleum landscape, but those that it has enriched have contributed much to the artistic scene. The Gilcrease Museum and the Philbrook Museum of Art, both in Tulsa, and the Woolaroc Museum, in Bartlesville , originally reflected individual tastes, but they have joined other art museums (notably the Oklahoma City Art Museum) in offering diverse displays. Symphony orchestras are supported in Tulsa, Lawton, Enid-Phillips, and Norman. A public school music program culminates each spring in the Tri-State Music Festival. Several ballerinas of international fame are of Oklahoman Indian descent, the most noted of whom are Yvonne Chouteau , Rosella Hightower , and the sisters Maria and Marjorie Tallchief . Theatres have been sources of entertainment since frontier days. Universities and civic groups continue to provide a wide variety of dramatic experiences and professional training. Several towns feature annual folk plays or pageants, and Tulsa boasts an opera company with a regional reputation. The Tulsa Little Theater has given more than 50 years of uninterrupted productions. The state is unusually active in literature, with numerous writers’ clubs, poetry societies, and folklore groups.

Among the state’s well-known writers are S.E. Hinton, author of several novels for youth that are set in the Tulsa of the 1950s; novelist and biographer Michael Wallis; and sports and young-adult fiction writer Harold Keith. Native American writers from Oklahoma include Linda Hogan , Joy Harjo , and N. Scott Momaday , who was named Oklahoma’s poet laureate in 2008. S.E. Hinton Guthrie Oklahoma also has an especially rich tradition in popular music that encompasses many genres . The long list of Oklahoma natives and residents who have found fame as musicians and singers includes seminal folksinger Woody Guthrie , jazzmen Charlie Christian and Chet Baker , pop vocalist Patti Page , actor Ben Johnson , “singing cowboy” (and actor) Gene Autry , and rock musicians Leon Russell , Dwight Twilley, and the Flaming Lips, not to mention a host of familiar names from the world of country music topped by Garth Brooks , Reba McEntire , Roger Miller, Hank Thompson , Conway Twitty , Vince Gill, and Carrie Underwood . Sports and recreation Oklahoma offers a wide variety of recreational opportunities and actively seeks tourists from other states.

The state has some 50 parks that range from mountainous to arid land. Among popular natural features are the Little Sahara Recreation Area and Great Salt Plains and Gloss Mountain state parks. Although often thought of as exclusively arid, because of its active program of water impoundment, Oklahoma has many canoe trails, fishing tournaments, and other opportunities for aquatic recreation as well as more shoreline than the Atlantic coast. USA Facts Baseball, gridiron football , wrestling , and basketball all loom large in the sports history of Oklahoma. Tulsa and Oklahoma City have had minor league baseball franchises since early in the 20th century, and the state has produced many outstanding baseball players, including Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle , Johnny Bench , and Carl Hubbell . Both the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University (members of the Big 12 Conference ) have frequently sent their baseball teams to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) College World Series. The University of Oklahoma also has had one of college football’s most storied programs, having garnered seven NCAA championships.

Oklahoma State cannot match the triumphs of its cross-state rival in football, but it boasts the most successful program in the history of collegiate wrestling as the winner of nearly three dozen NCAA championships (Oklahoma has also won many). Both universities also have strong basketball traditions; Oklahoma State’s reaches back to championship teams led by one of college basketball’s first great coaches, Hank Iba. Frequently overshadowed by the accomplishments of Oklahoma’s and Oklahoma State’s teams are those of the University of Tulsa (Conference USA), which has made its mark in football and basketball, and of Oral Roberts University (Summit League), which has excelled in basketball and baseball. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Professional sports have generally had a low profile in Oklahoma. However, after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina , the New Orleans Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) played their home games in Oklahoma City for two seasons (beginning in 2005). In 2008 Oklahoma City got its own NBA franchise when the Seattle SuperSonics relocated there as the Thunder. Rodeo is also very popular in the state.

It is perhaps fitting that Oklahoma’s most renowned athlete, Jim Thorpe , an Olympian and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was a star not just in one sport but in several, including athletics (track and field), baseball, basketball, and lacrosse. Media and publishing The state’s numerous daily newspapers include The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) and Tulsa World. The Journal-Record, published in the capital, covers the state’s legal and business news. The Oklahoma Press Association has promoted the development of journalism and newspapers since 1906, before Oklahoma achieved statehood; its charitable branch, the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation, gives workshops and provides scholarships to promising Oklahoma journalism students at colleges and universities in the state. The University of Oklahoma Press publishes scholarly works, specializing in the American West and Native Americans. There are also a number of small book publishers across the state. History Early habitation and European exploration Although it is one of the newest states in the union, Oklahoma has one of the oldest records of human occupation. Its abundant resources attracted early hunting and gathering peoples known as the Clovis and Folsom cultures by about 9500 bce.

Beginning about 700 ce, people in what is now eastern Oklahoma developed a variety of exquisite pottery, textiles, sculpture, and metalware. These members of the Mississippian culture engaged in farming, hunting, fishing, and the gathering of wild plant foods and were part of a system of trade and communication that included most of southeastern North America . The Spiro Mounds site (occupied from about 850 to 1450) is an outstanding example of the settlements these people built (see also Southeast Indian ). Related Topics Oral Roberts University What is now central Oklahoma was also home to groups whose economies relied on farming as well as foraging. Known as Plains Villagers, they built their hamlets and villages along rivers and streams to take advantage of the more easily tilled earth found in bottom lands. There they grew several varieties of corn, beans, and squash, produced pottery and fine stone and bone tools, and engaged in a rich cultural life. What is now the western part of the state was too dry to farm successfully. However, its broad grasslands supported large herds of bison as well as other animals; both the Plains Villagers to the east and Pueblo Indians to the west visited the region on hunting expeditions.

Sometime in the last millennium, probably between 1100 and 1500, people began to settle on the plains permanently (see also Plains Indian , Southwest Indian ). The descendants of all of these groups were still living in the area in the late 15th century, but their communities were for the most part destroyed by the violence and epidemic diseases brought by European colonization. At the time of the expedition of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado in 1541, the region’s population included representatives of at least three major Native American language groups. Coronado claimed the area for Spain , but it became little more than a highway for wide-ranging Spanish explorers. In 1714 Louis Juchereau de Saint-Denis visited Oklahoma, and other Frenchmen subsequently established a fur trade with the Native Americans. France and Spain struggled for control until 1763, leaving only the natives to contest Spanish authority until the return of the French flag in 1800. Three years later, through the Louisiana Purchase , Oklahoma was acquired by the United States.

American dominion The region, as one of the purchase’s most attractive parts—because of trade opportunities—might well have become one of its first states; but it was in fact the last. Because of hostile Native Americans, Spanish intrigue, the mislabeling of the region’s treeless plains as the Great American Desert, and the pressure for removal of the Native Americans from the settled East, the U.S. Congress in 1828 reserved Oklahoma for Native Americans and required all others to withdraw. By 1880 more than 60 tribes from other areas of the country—in the 1830s, such Eastern groups as the Creek , Cherokee , and Choctaw , and, in the 1870s, such Plains Indians as the Cheyenne , Arapaho , Kiowa , and Comanche —had been forcibly removed to Indian Territory , where they joined local groups such as the Wichita and Kansa . Among both the original inhabitants and the newcomers, some were sedentary, peaceful, agricultural, and Europeanized (even to the point of owning slaves of African descent), while others were migratory and eager to fight in defense of their land and other interests.

The newly defined Indian Territory consisted of five republics, or nations, with fixed boundaries, written constitutions, courts, and other governmental apparatus similar to those of the Eastern states. The major difference was that in each republic all land was held jointly or in severalty by an individual tribe. The first major threat to these governments came when, as former allies of the South during the American Civil War (1861–65), they were placed under military rule during the Reconstruction (1865–77) period. The Reconstruction treaties required, among other things, land cessions to former slaves, the resettlement of additional outside tribes, and railroad rights-of-way. Although a scheme to colonize free blacks in Oklahoma never materialized, the weakness of the Native American governments encouraged non-Native Americans from adjoining states to trespass. Thus, the territory again became an embattled refuge for Native Americans and an even greater cultural hodgepodge of ethnicities . The territory’s petroleum deposits were long known to the local Native Americans, who used the oil for medicinal purposes. Oil often oozed to the surface and collected on rocks and bodies of water, and gas seeps betrayed their locations by the inhibition of plant growth in the surrounding areas.

Early American explorers and settlers also used the oil and natural gas, but attempts were not made to exploit Oklahoma’s reserves commercially until the 1870s. The territory’s oil boom began in earnest in the early 20th century and was to last until mid-century. Oil derricks and producing wells on the grounds of the Oklahoma state capitol, c. 1930s. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. United States settlement and statehood Railroads seeking revenue and American settlers seeking property coveted the land of the Native Americans. By 1879 organized bands, who came to be known as “Boomers,” so named because of the economic boom that obtained in the 1870s and ’80s across most of the country, were moving in despite federal law. Although most were ejected, pressure continued until Congress opened some 3,100 square miles (8,100 square km) of western Indian Territory, bringing on a famous land run that began with the signal from a cavalry bugle at noon on April 22, 1889.

Known as Oklahoma Territory, the new area came to include, through further land runs, about half of the former Indian domain. Then its settlers, many of whom earned the name “Sooner” for entering the area before receiving official permission, sought union of the two territories in statehood. The remaining Indian Territory, most of it opened to U.S. settlers by 1893, was dissolved by assignment of lands to the various tribes, and the tribal governments were pressured to approve the constitution of the proposed state in 1907. Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory, days after the land rush of April 22, 1889. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Ethnic tensions between Oklahomans of European (“white”) and African (“black”) descent (and sometimes between members of these groups and Native Americans and Hispanics) were commonplace during the early years of statehood and were manifested as isolated lynchings and propaganda against African Americans. These tensions culminated in race riots in 1921 in Tulsa, during which some 35 city blocks in the African American community were destroyed and several hundred people were killed.

The drought years of the 1930s blighted many rural areas of Oklahoma and created the Dust Bowl that drove thousands of farmers, the so-called “Okies,” into long migrations in search of some form of livelihood. The economic boom of World War II , however, allowed the economy to diversify. This diversification was marked by the growth of the oil and natural gas industry, which suffered setbacks in the 1980s. The major political development of the late 20th century was the growing strength and assertiveness of Oklahoma’s Native American population, whose tribal leaders increasingly pressed for compensation for lost lands. Abandoned farmstead, Dust Bowl region of Oklahoma, 1937. USDA Photo Oklahoma migrant stalled in the California desert in 1937; photo by Dorothea Lange. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Terrorism struck Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, when a truck bomb exploded and destroyed part of the Alfred P.

Murrah Federal Building in the downtown area, killing 168 people and injuring more than 500.In the protracted economic crises of the early 21st century, Oklahoma experienced gains in areas such as renewable-energy development but losses in social services and capital investment. The state’s educational system, in particular, saw significant loss in funding and was ranked very low among the region’s states by a number of organizations. Remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, after the terrorist attack on … David Glass/AP Oklahoma | history - geography - state, United States | Britannica.com state, United States (2010) 3,751,351; (2016 est.) 3,923,561 Total area (sq mi) "Labor Omnia Vincit (Labor Conquers All Things)" State bird2 Seats in U.S. House of Representatives 5 (of 435) 2The wild turkey is the state gamebird. 3The Indian blanket is the state wildflower. Oklahoma, constituent state of the United States of America .

It borders Colorado and Kansas to the north, Missouri and Arkansas to the east, Texas to the south and west, and New Mexico to the west of its Panhandle region. In its land and its people, Oklahoma is a state of contrast and of the unexpected. The terrain varies from the rolling, timbered hills of the east to the treeless high plains that extend from the Panhandle region into Texas and New Mexico. Oklahoma’s east-central region is dominated by the lowlands of the Arkansas River , sweeping in from Colorado and Kansas, and by the Red River , which forms nearly all of its southern border with Texas. The capital is Oklahoma City , near the centre of the state. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Oil rig in a wheat field near Okmulgee, east-central Oklahoma. © Don L. Crawford from TSW—CLICK/Chicago Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The word Oklahoma is derived from two Choctaw words: okla, “people,” and humma, “red.” During the 19th century the future state was a symbol of one of the least glorious chapters in American history, becoming known as Indian Territory , the dumping ground for eastern Native American tribes displaced by settlers’ ever-increasing hunger for land. Since its admission in 1907 as the 46th state of the union, however, Oklahoma has achieved an integration of its Native American citizens into modern economic and social life that probably is unmatched by any other state. There is no reservation in the usual sense for the Native American population. Though poverty is endemic among them, many Oklahoma Indians have risen to positions of distinction, and tribal revenue distributions have enabled many more to share in the great wealth that petroleum resources have brought to the state. Related People Darrell K Royal Once basically agricultural—and the Dust Bowl locale of John Steinbeck ’s novel The Grapes of Wrath—Oklahoma now has hundreds of lakes, many of them man-made, and an increasingly diversified economy in which tourism is ever more important.

The customs of the Deep South are maintained in the habits and attitudes of southern Oklahoma—“Little Dixie”—despite the decline in cotton production. The customs of the wheat growers in the north, however, reflect their largely Kansan origins. Area 69,899 square miles (181,037 square km). Population (2010) 3,751,351; (2016 est.) 3,923,561. Land Lying in a transitional zone in topography , climate, and other features, both east to west and north to south, Oklahoma comprises a number of environments—from mountainous to plains, semiarid to humid, and grassland to forest. The Southwest. Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Precipitation varies from more than 45 inches (1,140 mm) annually in the Ouachitas to less than 16 inches (400 mm) in the Panhandle. Wheat and sorghum predominate in the drier western sections of the state, peanuts thrive in the middle areas, and corn, soybeans, vegetables, and berries grow in the damper east.

Irrigation has made corn a successful crop in the dry Panhandle. Virtually all of the regions have enough water for grass; hence, ranching is common. Oklahoma has a southern humid belt merging with a colder northern continental one and humid eastern and dry western zones that cut through the state. The result is normally pleasant weather and an average annual temperature of about 60 °F (16 °C), increasing from northwest to southeast. No region is free from wind. As the collision point for warm and cold air masses, with sudden rises and falls in temperature, the state has heavy thunderstorms, blizzards, and tornadoes . Especially damaging and deadly tornadoes struck the cities of Snyder (May 1905), Woodward (April 1947), and Moore (May 2013), and large areas of the state were affected by outbreaks of tornadoes in May 1955 and May 1999. Plant and animal life Oklahoma is a transitional area for plant and animal life. More than 130 species of trees are native.

The eastern forests of maple, sweet gum, hickory, oak, and pine change into the cottonwood, elm , hackberry, and blackjack and post oaks of the grasslands. The arid-zone plants are chiefly mesquite, sage, and cacti. Among animals are deer, elk , antelope , rabbits, coyotes, wolves, foxes, prairie dogs, and American bison. Native fish include bass, perch, catfish, and buffalo, and virtually every bird common to the land between the Mississippi River and the Rockies is found, especially in the stream-laced eastern part of the state. Horned toads, lizards, many varieties of nonpoisonous snakes, and rattlesnakes and water moccasins are native. People Oral Roberts University Population composition People from a wide range of ethnic and geographic origins have contributed to Oklahoma’s population. Some three-fourths of the population is of European (“white”) ancestry; African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics each constitute slightly less than one-tenth of the population.

The original French claimants left their names and bloodlines, usually in conjunction with Native American families, and a mining boom in the 1870s brought Europeans into the Choctaw Nation. Descendants of these Italian, Slavic, Greek, Welsh, Polish, and Russian miners still live in Little Dixie. The land runs brought homesteaders from China, Japan, Mexico, England, France, and Canada, and the spread of wheat farming beginning in the late 1800s attracted German Mennonites and Czechs to the northwest. By the 1980s sizable groups of Mexicans and Vietnamese also had arrived. Nearly all of Oklahoma’s residents, however, reflect a typically Midwestern American culture . Tepees on display at the annual Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival, Oklahoma City. © Dave Bartruff/Corbis The state’s religious sects bear out this trend toward conformity. Of the Protestant majority, Southern Baptists and United Methodists predominate, and the political and cultural conservatism that is a result of their presence has placed Oklahoma in the Bible Belt.

(The fundamentalism of these groups was a primary cause for Oklahoma’s retention of the prohibition of liquor sales until 1959.) Other leading denominations include the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Assemblies of God , Churches of Christ, Roman Catholicism, and Episcopalianism. Members of the Greek Orthodox faith are represented throughout the state only in small numbers, and Jewish congregations are limited to the cities. Most Native Americans have adopted some form of religion with European origins, although the Native American church —in which use of the drug peyote is a part of the worship—is recognized by state charter. The Sun Dance and Ghost Dance of the western groups reflect earlier religious practices and reactions to white settlement. Settlement patterns The outlines of roads and farms in Oklahoma generally produce a pattern of unusual symmetry in the landscape, revealing the original survey divisions into townships, sections, and quarter sections. Small squares predominate where small-scale farming is common and very large ones where wheat and ranching prevail. As elsewhere in the country, however, the trend has been toward urbanization; some two-thirds of the state’s population lives in urban areas.

The Red Beds in the centre of the state grew most rapidly, and several of the state’s major cities are found there. Old post office and federal courthouse, Woodward, northwest Oklahoma. Harry Cavanaugh Most of Oklahoma’s Native Americans live in the former Indian Territory in the eastern part of the state, though the Plains tribes remain in western Oklahoma. Some Native Americans live on tribal landholdings that are informally called reservations. Most African Americans are descended from people enslaved by the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole (who are sometimes referred to as the Five Civilized Tribes ), although some migrated from the South after 1865 and others came during the land runs that began in 1889. The majority live in urban centres or in the southern and eastern parts of the state, and several towns have entirely African American populations. Oklahoma City is near the centre of the state. In area it is one of the larger cities in the country. Banking, insurance, manufacturing, trade and transportation, state and federal installations, and educational facilities have made it the commercial and industrial heart of the state. Tinker Air Force Base, located in nearby Midwest City , is the metropolitan area’s largest employer.

Lawton is a centre for Fort Sill Military Reservation, Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, and the rural population of the area. Norman , seat of the University of Oklahoma and site of the major state psychiatric hospital, is also a bedroom community for Oklahoma City and Midwest City commuters. Tulsa , a former Creek Indian village in the Sandstone Hills region, grew slowly until the discovery of oil nearby. Refineries and facilities for manufacturing and distributing oil-field supplies have made it the headquarters for many oil companies, and it has many other financial and industrial functions. Enid is the home of Vance Air Force Base and is the marketing centre for a prosperous agricultural community. Economy Oklahoma’s economy is not as balanced as those of many other U.S. states. There has in the past been overdependence on agriculture and petroleum, but the efforts of state and local officials to attract new forms of industry as well as tourism have shown some success. The annual per capita income is significantly below the national average, as is the median household income. Workers on an oil rig, Oklahoma City. © Index Open Oklahoma remains something of an economic satellite of the industrial North and East, furnishing food, raw materials, and fuels to them.

Despite the state’s great efforts to diversify—for example, the manufacture of transportation equipment has become important—just over one-tenth of its workers are in manufacturing, lower than the national average. Services employ the greatest number of people, followed by wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, finance, insurance and real estate, transportation and public utilities, construction, and mining. Agriculture and forestry Traditionally, agriculture has furnished an important part of Oklahoma’s income, though Oklahoma’s farms, which are slightly larger than the national average, have slightly less value per acre. In line with national trends, the averages are likely to remain the same, but the number of units will probably continue to decline. In commercial agricultural production, livestock ranks first, followed by wheat, dairy products, cotton, soybeans, and other field crops and general produce. Less than one-fifth of the state is forested. Commercially exploitable timber primarily consists of softwoods, mostly harvested in the southeast. Resources and power Oklahoma ranks high nationally in the value of mineral production, which includes petroleum, natural gas, natural gas liquids, coal, and stone. Oil and gas production historically have been the major components of Oklahoma’s economy.

Networks of pipelines move the petroleum products to refineries and markets throughout the region and elsewhere in the country. Fluctuations in oil prices—such as those in the 1980s—have sometimes reduced the importance of oil and gas and caused widespread economic depression at various points in the state’s history, evidenced by a large number of bank failures in Oklahoma in the 1980s and early 1990s. Coal and gas are the two main sources of power generation; together they produce nearly all the state’s electric power. The late 20th and early 21st centuries saw the addition of geothermal and wind-energy sources to the power mix; both showed great potential to replace fossil fuels in the future. In July 2000 the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce created an alliance known as the Oklahoma Wind Power Initiative . Manufacturing Manufactured goods constitute a minor proportion of Oklahoma’s economy, as compared to the production of raw materials. The manufacture of electronics and communications equipment, industrial machinery, and transportation equipment is the mainstay of the sector.

The first major commercial pulp and paper plant in the state was established in 1970, and several international manufacturers have located mills and packaging facilities in towns around the state. Services, labour, and taxation Services are one of Oklahoma’s dominant economic activities, and government is the largest single employer. Much activity in the tourist sector surrounds the state’s Western heritage, Native American attractions, and outdoor activities throughout Oklahoma’s diverse terrain. The state’s union membership rate is significantly lower than the national average; in a 2001 referendum, voters approved antiunion right-to-work legislation. For financial support of its functions, Oklahoma relies basically on taxes on petroleum, natural gas, gasoline, income, and sales. Property taxes are used largely for the support of county, municipal, and school needs. A major check on spending since 1941 has been Oklahoma’s “budget-balancing” amendment , by which the legislature is forbidden to appropriate more money than in the previous year plus estimated additional revenues. Transportation Oklahoma’s transportation facilities help account for its favourable record in attracting new industry. The state has well-developed networks of roads and highways and of railroads. Amtrak provides passenger train service between Oklahoma City and points in Oklahoma and Texas.

Tulsa and Oklahoma City are the major transport hubs. The state’s major airport, Will Rogers World Airport, is located in Oklahoma City; regional facilities are in Lawton and Tulsa. A barge system carries cargo from Tulsa to the Gulf of Mexico by way of locks and dams on the Arkansas River. Government and society Constitutional framework The general structure of the state’s constitution (1907; still in force but frequently amended) is similar to those of other states, but Oklahomans strengthened the legislature by limiting the governor’s appointive powers and ability to serve consecutive terms—although the latter prohibition was removed in 1966—and by making the judiciary elective. Also unusual at the time was the constitutional provision of the citizens’ right to initiate legislation by popular initiative and referendum. The governor is elected for four years. In the bicameral state legislature, members of the Senate are elected for four-year terms and members of the House of Representatives for terms of two years. By constitutional provision, cities with populations of 2,000 or more can use a council-manager form of government.

A major governmental change was the revision of the state’s court system in 1967, which abolished justices of the peace and established selection of major judgeships according to what has become known as the Missouri Plan . Under this plan, judges are nominated by a joint commission chosen by the governor and the state bar association rather than by the political parties. The court system encompasses the Supreme Court, the Court of Civil Appeals, the Court of Criminal Appeals, and district courts. The Supreme Court has exclusive appellate jurisdiction in civil cases—which it may, at its discretion, assign to the Court of Civil Appeals—while the Court of Criminal Appeals has exclusive appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases. Judges are elected for a term of six years. The Court of Appeals, with a judge elected from each congressional district, hears only cases assigned to it by the Supreme Court, and there is no appeal from its decisions to other state courts. The district courts are the courts of original jurisdiction for all civil and criminal trials. A workers’ compensation court hears injury-compensation claims. For much of the state’s early history, Oklahoma voters favoured the Democratic Party .

Even when the state supported Republican presidential nominees, normally that party could hope for only one or two congressional seats, and it was not until 1962 that it won the governorship. Throughout the late 20th century, however, the Republican Party gathered strength. By the early 21st century the state was considered a Republican “safe” state in presidential elections, and most of its members of Congress were Republicans; in the 2008 presidential election, not a single Oklahoma county was delivered to the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama . The governorship and other state and local offices are typically traded off between Democrats and Republicans. Oklahomans have a history of giving strong support to third parties; in 1914 the Socialists received 52,703 votes, and in 1968 the Southern states’ rights (American Independent Party) candidate, George C. Wallace , received more than 20 percent of the total vote. Women are unusually well represented in Oklahoma politics, in all branches of government and at all levels. Minorities, notably Native Americans, are also prominent in state administration.

Education Supervision of public schools is conducted by elected state and county superintendents, and higher education is coordinated by the regents for higher education, appointed by the governor. Major schools within the state university system are the University of Oklahoma (founded 1890), in Norman, and Oklahoma State University (1890), in Stillwater . Both have a large number of graduate departments ranked above average in achievement. Also notable is the historically black Langston University , established by the territorial legislature in 1897. Private institutions enroll less than one-fifth of the college population; these include the University of Tulsa (1894; Presbyterian) and Oral Roberts University (1963; interdenominational Protestant), in Tulsa. Donald W. Reynolds Performing Arts Center, University of Oklahoma, Norman. Andrew Goidell Oklahoma Statehood, November 16, 1907 | National Archives Exhibits Oklahoma Statehood, November 16, 1907 Housed in the historical records of the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Senate at the Center for Legislative Archives are many documents that illuminate Congress's role in the statehood process.

Below is a selection of the wide-variety of congressional records that document Oklahoma's unique path to statehood. Enlarge Download Link Survey Map of Oklahoma and Indian Territory showing distances, municipal towns, and post offices, published by George Cram, 1902 Most of the land that is now Oklahoma was acquired by the United States in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. In the 1830s, the U.S. used the land to relocate Indian tribes and the Indian Territory was formed from the land set aside by the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834. The Indian Territory originally extended beyond present-day Oklahoma, but the size was gradually reduced over the course of the 19th century. In 1889 Congress authorized the opening land seized from the Indian Territory for homestead settlement, and a year later Congress passed an act that officially created the Oklahoma Territory. RG 233, Records of the U.S.

House of Representatives Enlarge President Benjamin Harrison s nomination of George Washington Steele to be the first Governor of the Oklahoma Territory, May 8, 1890 Congress holds the power to make all the needful laws in the territories including the establishment of the territory and territorial government. In 1890 Congress created the Oklahoma Territory and confirmed George Washington Steele as the Territorial Governor. RG 46, Records of the United States Senate Enlarge Download Link First page of the Joint Statehood Convention, Oklahoma City, July 12, 1905 Although the Oklahoma and Indian Territories had sufficient population to be admitted as separate states, Congress insisted that the territories would only be granted statehood as a single, combined state. As a result, delegates representing the citizens of the Indian and Oklahoma Territories met in Oklahoma City for a joint statehood convention. They outlined their reasons for statehoodâthey had sufficient land area, population, resources and characterâand drafted a petition to Congress which was presented on March 7, 1906 and ordered printed. RG 233, Records of the U.S.

House of Representatives Enlarge HR 12707, A Bill to enabling the people of the Indian and Oklahoma Territories to form a state constitution and State government, January 20, 1906 The Oklahoma statehood bill, as originally introduced to the House, also included the admission of New Mexico and Arizona as one state. RG 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives Enlarge Download Link Cover of pamphlet Souvenirs of Tulsa - Indian Territory, 1906 This pamphlet is part of the file for the HR 12707, Oklahoma s statehood bill. It, along with a multitude of other documentation, was submitted as evidence that the people of the territories were primed for statehood. RG 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives Enlarge Download Link Telegram from T.H. Marlin of the Indian Territory to Joe Cannon, March 13, 1906 Since the House bundled New Mexico and Arizona statehood with Oklahoma statehood, the bill proved very immensely controversial. Speaker Uncle Joe Cannon (R-IL) pushed the contentious bill through the House.

The Senate, however, amended the bill to omit New Mexico and Arizona statehood. Cannon, despite an avalanche of telegrams from the residents of the Oklahoma and Indian Territories remained determined to resist the Senate s amendments. RG 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives Enlarge Letter from Edwin Meeker of the Oklahoma Territory begging the House to concur with the Senate s amendment to the statehood bill, March 13, 1906 On March 9, 1906, the Senate voted to admit Oklahoma and the Indian Territory as one state and struck all references to New Mexico and Arizona that were in the original House bill. When it became apparent the House was going to fight the Senate amendments, telegrams and letters from residents of the Oklahoma and Indian Territories flooded into Washington DC. RG 233, Records of the U.S.

House of Representatives Enlarge Download Link Engrossed HR 12707, An act to enable the people of the Indian and Oklahoma Territories to form a state constitution and State government, first page, June 16, 1906 On June 16, 1906, after months of political wrangling, Congress finally passed an act enabling the people of the Indian and Oklahoma Territories to form a state constitution and state government and to be admitted into the Union on equal footing with the existing states. Congress included a compromise measure that allowed the voters of the Arizona Territory and New Mexico Territory to decide if the territories should be admitted into the union as one state. RG 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives Enlarge Engrossed HR 12707, An act to enable the people of the Indian and Oklahoma Territories to form a state constitution and State government, endorsement, July 16, 1906 The endorsement for HR 12707 illustrates the long, complicated progress the bill underwent from January to June, 1906. RG 233, Records of the U.S.

House of Representatives On September 17, 1907 the people of the Indian and Oklahoma Territories voted favorably on statehood. The vote was certified and delivered to the President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt and on November 16, 1907, Roosevelt issued Presidential Proclamation 780 admitting Oklahoma as the forty-sixth state. In his annual message on December 3, 1907—just a few weeks later—President Roosevelt announced to Congress, "Oklahoma has become a state, standing on full equity with her elder sisters, and her future is assured by her great natural resources." Read select pages of House Document 1, 60th Congress, President Theodore Roosevelt's Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1907 from the United States Congressional Serial Set. For more information about Oklahoma's history and centennial celebrations please visit: Oklahoma Centennial Commission: 1000+ images about USA - Oklahoma on Pinterest | Parks, Turner falls and Lakes Forward Oklahoma Entered the Union: Nov.

16, 1907 (46) Capital: Oklahoma City Origin of Name: from the Choctaw words: "okla" meaning people and "humma" meaning red, which literally means "red people." State Nickname: Sooner State State Tree: Redbud State Bird:Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher State Flower: Mistletoe State Game Bird: Wild Turkey State Animal: Bison State Furbearer: Raccoon State Reptile: Collared Lizard State Song: "Oklahoma" State Parks: 51 State Motto: Labor omnia vincit (Labor conquers… See More

Question: Known as the Sooner State, what was the 48th state to join the Union on Nov 16, 1907?
Answer: Oklahoma